SUNGLASSES AND ROCKETS Part 1 : New Moon

THE RIVER

After taking some samples of earth, we resumed our journey. It was 11:14 a.m.

Although time was of the essence ,we crawled along, swaying lightly. The amount of stones and rocks on the road meant we had to slow down.

"Why are there so many rocks?" I asked, overcome by curiosity.

"You'll see," the doctor said, from the back seat. "We're travelling through what the locals call río de invierno, or 'winter river,' isn't that right, Vanessa?"

"Of course, uncle," his niece replied. "They're rivers that carry water only in wintertime, when the river bed fills with rain-water."

As she responded, Vanessa didn't even look towards me. Come on! It seemed like she was enjoying the cruel game. I directed my next comment exclusively to Uncle Moses.

"Doctor Masterton," I said, as I avoided looking at the blonde beauty, "winter-time comes..."

"Gordo," the doctor interrupted me, "in these latitudes close to the equator seasons don't really exist. There are essentially two periods to the year, the dry phase and the rainy one."

"Are we in the dry period?" Darwin ventured.

"Rainy," Vanessa clarified.

We were travelling in a potential river of who-knows-what depth. We were a bunch of fools!

The incline became steeper as the curves became tighter. A tense silence had invaded the inside of the Discovery.

"Coordinates?" the doctor asked, breaking the silence.

"15 degrees, 48.002 minutes north; 88 degrees, 43.636 minutes west," Vanessa responded.

"It won't be long before we arrive," the doctor responded, looking at his watch. "The mines are close."

"It's a matter of minutes," his niece added.

In a way, that information was calming. However, I was frightened that it would start to rain at any moment. I rolled the window down and stuck out my hand.

Almost at that same instant I felt a heavy drop on my palm. Oh my God!

"Rain!" I cried, startled.

"Bird rain," Darwin laughed.

Sure enough, the greenish stain on my palm indicated that some bird had just gone to the bathroom.

I calmed down, although not for long. We continued our descent and the mines did not appear. After passing a narrow bend in the road, the abyss stretched on as far as ever. The rugged walls, covered with exotic ferns, were hardly six feet away from the windows. You couldn't help but look curiously at the wild landscape.

"Hairs!" Darwin suddenly exclaimed.

I quickly looked towards his window. Enormous beards seemed to be hanging from the walls of the cliff. There were several square feet of tangled hairs...

"They're spiders," Vanessa clarified, unsurprised.

I instinctively closed my window. Darwin, on the other hand, opened his.

"Are you sure?" he asked at the same time that he threw something at the horrifying undergrowth.

The beards started to untangle themselves. They came alive. They scattered.

"I think you're right," Darwin conceded, as he closed his window in one quick movement.

A huge mass of spiders fell on top of the vehicle. You didn't hear a sound, they were so light. They quickly spread out over the windows and the front windshield. They had long legs and tiny red heads.

Such a spectacle repulsed me so much that a shiver ran down my spine. I felt tempted to hold Vanessa. To protect her. But I restrained myself. She knows how to take care of herself, I thought, agitated. Besides, I had goosebumps.

"They must belong to the cornudas family, native to tropical regions," the doctor commented with the analytic tone of a naturalist. "They literally live one on top of another. They're harmless, unless you bother them."

Just at that moment, an absolute tapestry of spiders covered the windshield. Felix was obliged to turn on the windshield wipers to gain visibility. The trick worked. The glass was clean.

And almost at once a few drops of water plopped down. Then more. Then some more. It was starting to rain.

"We're close," the doctor murmured. "We'll get there just in time."

We negotiated the sinister section of the road and came out onto a kind of beach. Felix sped up at once. The water had already gotten worse. A monotonous drumming sound hammered on the roof of the vehicle. The wind began to blow. The trees on the edges blew about threateningly. The sky had turned black.

We had to get to the mines as soon as possible.

Nothing could be harder. At the end of the flat terrain, the walls of the ravine narrowed again, forming a tight passageway. We entered with a lurch. Terrified, I watched the water through the windows and saw how it flowed in wide columns against the walls until it gathered on the ground, forming pools. The winter river had begun to form. And we were in it.